Hello!

I was looking up trivia on IMDB for BG1, and I found this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167018/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv. If you see the second point, it says that the attacked by assassins song in BG1 is very similar to the theme from a 1985 film called Lifeforce. I haven't heard about the film until I read that entry. Keep in mind that if you search for the Lifeforce theme, you might find images that border NSFW.

I just had a listen to both songs right now. Its not the exact same, but I think they have similarities. According to the entry, no formal complaint was filed. I'm not really sure what to think. I'm not an expert in music, so there might be more to it than what I hear at first. What do you folks think?

Thank you for replying.

Similarity in music does not make plagiarism. There has to be 'substantial similarity'. One of the biggest problems with proving such similarity is that all music copyright falls into two categories: composition and sound recording. When you hear something on Youtube or wherever, you are hearing the sound recording, or in other words the 'performance' of the music, not how the music was written (composition) by the songwriter.

You can hear *some* similarities in the 'performance' of those two pieces, but plagiarism? I don't think so.

Edit: I should add that *every* composer is influenced by what has come before. The line between influence and copyright infringement is very blurry.

I'd never heard of Lifeforce until now. I've just listened to the theme and the similarity is indeed striking. If it wasn't plagiarism then it's a pretty huge coincidence. Then again, given the vast amount of music written every year around the world, such coincidences will occasionally happen by the infinite-monkeys-and-typewriters principle. As a famous composer once remarked on being accused of plagiarising another composer's song, the two of them only had seven notes to work with between them. Think also of the similarity (more famous thanks to a certain internet meme) between the theme of the character Robo in the SNES game Chrono Trigger and Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up, which as far as I know is generally acknowledged to be coincidental. And Lifeforce isn't exactly the most well-known of films.

Yes, they are basically the same. Especially the entrance.

Henry Mancini - Theme From Lifeforce

Baldur's Gate Music- Attacked by Assassins

That particular song was not used in the original game, though. It was restored by fan-made patches and mods.

Wow, they sound super similar.

But as Tuthrick wrote above, I do not remember this particular song being included in the original BG1 (at least not in my country). The first time I heard it was when playing gog version.

That's not true. I haven't played BG1 for several years, nor a totally unmodded version for even longer, but back in those days I played it a lot, and I clearly remember that music. To make sure I wasn't imagining it I've searched on Youtube for videos of the unmodded game and the piece in question is indeed there.

Ditto. I just finished a playthrough of the unmodded BG1 and the track is there.

Do you refer to CD version, or gog version? I really don't remember this music in my CD version of the game, but I know it is included in the vanilla gog version. I will have to look for my CDs to verify whether I am wrong or not.

The version I am referring to is the one from GoG. It sounds like investigating the CD copy of BG1 would be helpful. Thanks for checking out the disc version.

I had the CD version in mind. I've played through it last year and of course many times before that.

I'm sure it was in the disc version that I played from about 1999.

P. S. I have only ever owned the BG games on disc, never download.

An intentionally Lovecraftian sci-fi film and a true cult classic.

Also check out The Hidden for something pretty amazing.